This lecture, with Dr. Melissa Forstrom, examined the role of exhibition interpretation and the possible effects of polytemporality and polyvocality in "The World Between Empires: Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East" (March 18–June 23, 2019) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rooted in interpretation theory and new museology and drawing on exhibition visits and interviews with curators, this talk argues that the future relevance in art-museum exhibition could be in interpretation, which is critical to the accessibility of an exhibition, responsible for the meanings audiences create, and is essential in linking the familiar with the unfamiliar.
